Just had a small fire under hood, above driver's side wheel. 98 degree day, some traffic driving. Noticed smoke after I had parked for 5 minutes, smoldering fire in the plastic wheel well liner - really appeared that the plastic ignited. And of course the fire lasted just long enough to discolor my paint...

Car runs fine, and yes I now have a fire extinguisher in the passenger seat. Noticed inside the fender, above the wheel well liner, there was a knotted tube, like a 1/4"+ vacuum tube.

Is this vacuum tube supposed to be knotted - anyone ?? Anyone have similar experiences? Any suggestions?

Could this have been someone's smoldering cigarette kicked up into my plastic liner?